The weather here has transformed over the past few days from the persistent wet and stormy conditions of December to clear and frosty and we have the first sight of the sun since at least early December.  The river is still moderately high, but falling quickly and conditions should be perfect for an invert check early this week.

last Saturday I put in the Section 30 application for this season's restocking of the Tarn.  Turn round usually takes six weeks as the presence of native crayfish means that our application is subject to reference to Natural England.  I was stunned when I turned the computer on on Monday to find that the S30 had been consented.  I all the ten years that I have been keeper here I have never had a consent back that quickly.  So, all is set now for the first restocking on 5 March.

Last week I was given a copy of an article written by Bill Mitchell who has chronicled the history of the Dales over a lifetime spent as a journalist and writer.  This article describes the salmon hatchery that was set up at Langcliffe by the Lancashire River Authority some years ago.  I had no idea just how extensive this operation was.  At its height they were taking eggs from over 150 salmon each year and producing eight thousand swim up fry per hatchery tank.  From the photo accompanying the article there seem to be at least 20 tanks in the hatching house.  Twenty thousand fry were taken each year to the Lune and the rest put into the Ribble from Selside downstream.  That really is industrial strength restocking!

Here's hoping that this settled weather lasts a bit.

Ian